An Ignoble Fate Awaits Osaka's Record-Setting Grand Ring

Some distinctive works of architecture endure for centuries, becoming iconic parts of the landscape. Others have far shorter lifespans: the “White City” of the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago left its mark on architectural history, but the structures built for the event itself didn’t endure for very long. The same appears to be true for another striking structure built for an international gathering: the Grand Ring built in Osaka for this year’s Expo 2025.

In an article for The Guardian, Justin McCurry described the structure as a “wooden promenade that encircles the waterfront site” and encompassed 1.24 miles. In March of this year, Guinness World Records named the Grand Ring as the world’s largest wooden archiectural structure. It’s an impressive feat of design and engineering, to be sure — but it also begs the question of what to do with it now that Expo 2025 is over.

Remember how one of the stadiums built in Brazil for the 2014 World Cup ended up being used as a parking lot? Think along those lines, except even more pragmatic and unsentimental.

As Dezeen’s Ned Barker reports, the structure will likely soon become a source of firewood. Sou Fujimoto, the architect behind the project, told Dezeen that around 10% of the structure will remain in place, with another 20% potentially being rebuilt elsewhere. “70 per cent, at least as far as I’ve heard, they will just demolish and then make it chips for the fuel,” he told Dezeen.

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It’s very understandable that Fuijimoto is frustrated that this groundbreaking structure won’t remain intact. That said, Dezeen’s article does note that the structure was never intended to be permanent; Expo 2025 also literally created press releases looking for buyers for “lumber from the Grand Ring.” It’s not the most memorable of endings; then again, neither was Chicago’s White City, but its impact endures in the buildings that followed in its wake.

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Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll lives and writes in New York City, and has been covering a wide variety of subjects — including (but not limited to) books, soccer and drinks — for many years. His writing has been published by the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, Literary Hub, Vulture, Punch, the New York Times and Men’s Journal.

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